Busa up close and personal (Part 1)

It's not everyday that you get to see the internals of your busa. You would not unnecessarily want to open up the engine just for a look. Firstly it's costly and more importantly it takes lots of time. Almost a decade since the introduction of the hayabusa. And my bike have been running for that long. After almost a decade of chugging the miles away, it's still faithfully pulling strong and hard like a relentless fighter.

Being a firm believer of "take care of the bike, and it'll take care of you". I've decided since last year to send the bike in for an "open heart" surgery before it blows up on me. (though it has proven over the years that the engine is quite bulletproof). And so after almost 100k km mileage on it's belt, the old parts are laid to rest to pave way for newer better parts.

The recent journey embarked to overhaul my bike has given me the 1st hand look at the internals of the heart of the hayabusa. The 1299cc inline4 engine with DOHC.

Below is the process of the overhaul:Removing the engine from the chassis is a back breaking job. This block of metal is easily over 100kg. What's left after the engine is removed is a relatively light and empty chassis.

A close look at the intake ports (notice it's practically spotless, yes, the finger rub test showed no traces of dirt at all!)

But I can't really say the same for the exhaust ports =P

Side profile of the engine block with the starter gears disassembled.

8 years of carbon built up on the piston crown. It's not shown clearly but the rings sealing are perfect. No signs of leaks at all.


3rd Generation Cam Chain Tensioner (CCT). The first 2 generations are bugged with problems resulting in busted heads, valves and pistons.


Yoshimura Stage 1 camshaft with adjustable cam sprocket. Higher lift and longer duration than stock cams.
Engine block and pistons. 81mm bore size.


Cylinder head with the 16 valves Notice the exhaust valves are in a lighter shade of brown compared to the intake valves. It's due to the higher temperatures they are operating at (with the hot exhaust gases passing through them).

Clutch basket. The place where all the clutch plates are held in place.

2 items of interest may be spotted here. Oil pump gear and the gear position sensor.


Shift forks (2 big 1 small) . These are the parts that physically shift the different gears into place as you kick the gear lever.

Transmission.


Shift drum, this is what moves the shift forks when changing of gears.



Valve springs (all 32 of them), the hayabusa uses 2 valve springs per valve.